Keith Courage in Alpha Zones (TG16) Playthrough - NintendoComplete
443A playthrough of NEC's 1989 platform game for the TurboGrafx-16, Keith Courage in Alpha Zones.
Hudson Soft's Keith Courage in Alpha Zones was the TG16's pack-in title when the system launched in August 1989, and is often cited as one of the reasons that the Sega Genesis overtook the Turbo early on. While it's true that Keith Courage didn't look as "16-bit" as Altered Beast, and it certainly wasn't an ideal choice to give games as a first title to show off the new system, it's a good, solid title that is so goofy and odd that you'll probably enjoy it quite a bit if you give it a fair chance. It did have much more to it substance than Sega's arcade port ever did, after all.
It was based on an anime, but I'd guess the license was stripped for the localization because the anime itself wasn't released in the west. The localization is pretty amusing in that cringey late 80s/early 90s way, though, with Keith Courage using his father's NOVA mech to fighting on behalf of NICE (Nations of International Citizens for Earth) for control of the planet against the bad guys, B.A.D. (Beastly Alien Dudes). Yeah, that's some Konami NES instruction manual level of drek/genius right there.
At it's heart it's a standard platformer. It has seven main stages, each broken into three parts: the overworld allows you to collect money and talk with random people for advice, health, and weapons upgrades; the underworld areas feature simple explore and kill everything in sight gameplay; and the boss arenas ... contain bosses. Not much surprise there.
It's full of classic Turbo-style Engrish text which is always good for a laugh, and the graphics and sound, though a bit basic, are pretty cheery and colorful. The music is definitely the best aspect of it's presentation - it's upbeat and catchy, especially in those fun transition scenes. The controls are a bit stiff and take some getting used to, but the game is relatively easy so they don't really get in the way for very long. The game is also pretty short - the seven zones really don't take much time at all to go through (especially once you've learned the bosses patterns), and regardless of what people say, there isn't much grinding involved. The items never become so expensive that you have to spend huge chunks of time dedicated to collection gold. That is, unless you don't bother buying the Alpha Sword in Zone 6 - skip that, and the price doubles in the final area, which would take FOREVER to grind to. But, this video hasn't been cut at all. The little bit of grinding there is to do is all shown (I actually had a fair amount of money left at the end!), so don't fear it too much.
It's not Mario, Sonic, or Bonk, but Keith Courage is a fun title in its own right. It's made with the usual Hudson Soft attention to quality and balance, and if you go into it expecting nothing more than a well-made but somewhat average platformer that's loaded with charm, it won't disappoint.
It was not, as history proved, a good system seller. But then, how many games are on their own?
If Ronnie Dio had endorsed this, maybe he would've let them call it "Rainbow in the Dark" and used the song in game. How awesome, and fitting, would that have been?
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No cheats were used during the recording of this video.
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